


I've Walked This Road Before, Now I'll Take the Other Path

by Stargazer2369



Series: The Myths Can't Always Control Us [2]
Category: Slavic Mythology & Folklore
Genre: BAMF Marzanna | Morana | Mara (Slavic Mythology & Folklore), Deja Vu, F/M, Jarilo is confused, Marriage, New Years, Old Gods, Rebirth, Slavic mythology, Time Loop, Veles is sad, Why does he have to watch his stepson die all over again?, they're going to change the outcome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:21:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28221579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stargazer2369/pseuds/Stargazer2369
Summary: Two children of Perun: Jarilo (fertility, vegetation, son of the Moon) and Morana (nature, death, daughter of the Sun) are born on New Year. Jarilo is kidnapped by Veles, god of the Underworld, and grows up there with him. At Spring Equinox, Jarilo crosses back over into the realm of the living and marries Morana, bringing peace to the world... but after the harvest, he is unfaithful, and she kills him. Without the god of fertility and vegetation, winter comes and everything freezes, and Morana dies too - and then they are reborn together, next New Year. Or that is how it should go.
Relationships: Jarilo | Jarylo & Veles | Weles (Slavic Mythology & Folklore), Jarilo | Jarylo/Marzanna | Morana | Morena | Mara (Slavic Mythology & Folklore)
Series: The Myths Can't Always Control Us [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2067351





	I've Walked This Road Before, Now I'll Take the Other Path

Jarilo had walked this path before, he was sure of it. There was the fuzziest memory in the back of his mind, stronger when his step-father looked at him and says very clearly: _You must be kind to women. Respect them. Stay_ faithful, _always, Jarilo._ He just couldn't remember where he'd gone wrong. 

* * *

He ignores it, time and time again, walking through steps already taken, making the same mistakes. A knife through his chest, hands crushing his neck - _if I had only appreciated what I had -_ and then the memories are gone and it has begun again, and he keeps walking the same path. Over and over, again and again, the same mistakes, the same forgetting, the seasons passing are the story of his life.

* * *

At Spring Equinox, the buzzing feeling gets stronger. Something was going to happen soon, something which changed his life... but it felt, as it always did, just like walking on a path he'd walked too many times, and now he knew it better than he knew himself. He crosses to the world of the living, because that is where the path is taking him, and never once does it occur to him that this might not be the only way.

And then he meets her.

Morana is everything he isn't - dark and powerful and not afraid to speak her mind. She's amazing and funny and Jarilo is in love.

"What if," she says, beaming up at him, "what if we get married?"

And he agrees. He's never felt so alive as he does when he's with her.

Their fathers stop arguing, which is good because Jarilo doesn't like shouting. They dance through the harvest, just him and Morana, together forever, until...

Why does it feel like this will end? Why can it not stay forever? ( _But Father had said, nothing lasts forever, and maybe this cannot either-_ ) No, Jarilo will make it stay forever, and everything will turn out fine. When the ladies throw themselves at him, he wrinkles his nose and turns to Morana, and they dance together through the months. His Step-Father has never looked so happy, and Veles hugs him a lot whenever he visits home. And that's how they stay, Jarilo and Morana, Morana and Jarilo, though Morana has never liked the times around their birthday, so she's grumpier then (the humans call it winter, Veles calls it _girl trouble_ ). And Jarilo is faithful, always, and maybe no-one will have to die this time.

And this is what they call a happy ending, because in the end, everyone got what they wanted... finally, and Jarilo and Morana danced through eternity, laughing and smiling together, because what is better than taking the road less travelled by?

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone has any ideas about a myth I could do, please suggest them somewhere, that would be great.


End file.
